Paralyzed
by sonamyfanfiction
Summary: The only choice they have is to get out before anyone else gets hurt, or worse. It's only too late they realise they got too comfortable with their enemies, never really thinking anyone had it in them to go to these sort of extremes. Life will never be the same again, no matter how it ends, but for now, they need to hide until they can find a way to defeat Scourge once and for all.
1. Power

**HELLO EVERYONE!  
**  
 **How have we all been? I'm on a bit of a break from my study IRL, so I figured I best get a bit of a story going! it has been so nice jumping back onto my account to see some lovely messages about how much my writing has been missed! Means the world! Here is an idea I've been hanging onto which is one that starts out a little bit darker than what I would normally write.** **Might not be for everyone but I promise you that it will eventually lighten up! Give it a go and be sure to read and review! Great to be back! Send me a message! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

Smoke clouded their senses, black and red skies being all they could see for miles. Knuckles tripped in through the garage door from the vibrations of all the explosions, a hysterical Cream under his arm who fell with him. Rouge followed behind, covering Sally and Cosmo with her wings as they coughed up their lungs and collapsed to the ground. A dizzy Tikal was held up by Tails and Blaze, who both tried to hold in their agitated coughs, just catching the peach echidna before she hit the concrete floor.

'Is she ok?!' Sonia called out from behind them, over another explosion through her own coughs.

'Tikal?! Tikal, get up!' Shadow screeched, running to her side from behind the magenta hedgehog.

'Guys, get in here, now!' Silver called out over another shock, Manic running past him, before looking out to see Sonic scoop Amy up and dash inside the garage.

Everyone accounted for, they all buried themselves deeper into the room. Crawling along the ground, coughing, retching, heaving until they were ready to pass out and let go. All they could see was fire spread for as far as the eye could see, so big that it reached the tips of the sky and filled the rest of it with a dark, cloudy smoke. If the fire reached the forest, there would be no stopping it. No stopping them. Not that they had much going for them as it was… the city would be reduced to ashes by morning.

They just weren't ready, weren't prepared for something so extreme. They had fallen into the pattern of keeping Eggman and his dismal attempts at villainous behaviour at bay, with the odd occasion of something or someone more intense but- nothing could have readied them for what had come. It all happened so fast, just a regular afternoon when suddenly the city was under attack. The worst part about it being, there was never any need…

Scourge and his pack of wolves always knew that Sonic and his team resided far outside the city. They may not have known the exact location, but they have a pretty could estimate, and torturing innocent Mobians for their exact where about was too far even for them. By the time buildings started collapsing, houses going up in flames and the streets turning into a stage of discord, it was too late for the gang to save any of the lives that had been lost. Some were able to flee to the forest, but it was only a matter of hours before the city turned into a flaming ghost down of the dead.

The Moebian King even sought new recruits this time: Patch D'Coolette and Princess Alicia Acorn. Two of the most sadist, murderous Anti-Mobians they have to offer. Not just that, somehow they've tricked Eggman into their scheme as well, which is probably what shocked the gang more than ever. After all they'd been through with the grossly obese doctor, they never thought they had any of this in him. They guessed this was the price they paid for letting themselves get too comfortable…

'Cream? Cream, look at me!' Knuckles demanded, getting to his knees and shaking the young rabbit until she looked him in the eye. 'Stay with me, Cream, we're going to get out of here!'

Young, sweet, innocent Cream Rabbit would never be the same again. Her wide, bloodshot eyes finally locked with her brotherly figures before she tried to let out another hysterical scream but it just wouldn't come. After screaming at the top of her lungs for the past half an hour plus the effects of the thick smoke, her voice was completely mute. Her tiny fingers clung to her dress, stained with blood that had transformed what was almost the entire dress a vibrant red. Tears stang her eyes but they refused to fall, choking her irises with a blurred vision that tricked her into thinking that everything that had just happened could all just be a nightmare…

 _'Long time no see, friend! How's it going?' Scourge's snicker appeared on Sonic's communicator, the gang spread out through the city in an attempt to help the wounded._

 _'What have you done?! This is way out of hand, even for you?!' Sonic screamed, his rage and fear temporarily besting him, despite knowing that's just what the green Anti-Mobian wanted._

 _'Oh, come now, Sonic. I'm just having a little fun?' Scourge winked, seeing a midnight blue flame start to radiate Sonic's quills._

 _'Where. Are. You? I'll tear you limb from limb!'_

 _'Oh, I don't think so,' Scourge began as he mockingly assessed his claws, 'We wouldn't want anyone getting hurt now, would we?'_

 _His last few words trailed off as the camera drifted over to a pale, scared Vanilla Rabbit. Tied up to a chair by none other than Fiona in her own home. She looked at the camera, knowing that this message would be going to Sonic, and mustered up a smile, one that she always gave to Sonic for encouragement and comfort. However, now, it was having almost the opposite effect. Sonic cut off the connection before anyone else saw, determined to round everyone up now and get to Cream's house. Scourge didn't have it in him, Sonic knew that better than anyone…_

 _As Sonic traipsed the city for the team, he couldn't have realised that two members had already been found by the new recruits. The strong, independent and lovely Alicia Acorn had Bunnie trapped in an alley way in a headlock as she forced her to watch Patch kick Antoine until he collapsed onto the pavement, coughing up blood. The chipmunk snickered before exchanging almost a flirty glance with the coyote. She tightened her grip on one arm before pulling out her signature whip, having it at the ready._

 _'Looks like no one was here to save you, eh?' Patch snicked as he poured himself over Ant, his black eyepatch right up to his doppelganger's nose._

 _'W-Why are y-you doing this?' Ant questioned, almost begging. Patch appeared to be thinking for a second before shrugging off the question, his sadistic smile returning slightly._

 _'Power should never be in the hands of the prey, my friend. Besides it's not just that,' Patch stated clearly before picking Ant up painfully and making him look at Alicia and his beloved wife before whispering, 'There can only be one.'_

 _As the last word slithered out of his mouth and into a venomous smile, the two watched Alicia push Bunnie forward and crack her whip around the rabbit's neck and pull, snapping it almost instantly, all within just a few seconds. Antoine let out a piercing cry as Bunnie's expression widened before falling to the ground, his entire being stricken with grief and pain, unable to fathom why they were doing this. Not that anyone would ever understand, he figured._

 _'Your turn.' Alicia giggled, ready to crack her whip until Patch halted her as he pulled out a large syringe form behind his back and jabbed it into Ant's neck before he could even react._

 _A slow, torturous death by a vicious poison that Patch could conjure up in the blink of an eye. Alicia watched Antoine squirm and froth at the mouth until he was finally gone, a little disgusted. How gutless, she thought. He couldn't just snap the poor bastard's neck and get it over with? If there was anything Antoine and Patch had in common, it was how cowardly they both were._ _She shrugged it off before the two Anti Mobians fled the scene, leaving the bodies side by side to be found by their team._

 _As they left, being sure to avoid being sighted by anyone other than their own, Sonic had rounded almost everyone up. All except Silver, Blaze, Cosmo, Bunnie, Antoine and the Chaotix, who insisted on helping in this particular battle because – even Sonic had to admit – they needed all hands on deck. A few members were about to go searching again when they spotted Cosmo stumbling up to them, tears streaming her face before she collapsed, Tails narrowly catching her._

 _'They're gone. All of them. I saw it. I couldn't help them.' Cosmo sobbed through coughs._

 _'Who, Cosmo?! Who's gone?!' Tails begged her to continue._

 _'The Chaotix. Rosy took out Charmy all too easy, and it was a battle but O'Nux eventually pulled a gun on Vector. After that, Espio vanished. I never picked him for a coward, but in circumstances such as these, what choice did he have?'_

 _'We need to get out of here, right now,' Shadow began, knowing now wasn't the time to grieve, 'we need to find-'_

 _'Run! Get out of here!' Blaze's broken voice cut him off, all eyes falling on her and her grey counterpart as they ran towards them._

 _'What about Bunnie and Antoine?!' Amy screeched over another explosion._

 _'They're gone.' Silver said, biting back tears, 'we saw them, in an alley way. Bunnie looked like she'd been hung and Antoine… poisoned or something slow and painful.'_

 _'B-Bunnie.' Cream stammered, her cousin's name escaping her lips._

 _'EVERYONE! MOVE! NOW!' Manic called out, causing everyone to follow him into the forest, knowing there was nothing left they could do..._

 _By the time they got to the tree line of Knothole and out of the city, Sonic admitted to having received Scourge's message, but didn't dare say anything about Vanilla to anyone bar Manic. If too many people knew, Cream would suspect something. They ran towards the young rabbit's place, claiming it was for the closest place of refuge which luckily was a valid argument. They ran for a few minutes until they reached the doorsteps, Sonic bursting through with everyone else behind him… not realising Cream was the first one behind him._

 _'Tst, tst.' Scourge shook his head sadly, Fiona standing behind a tied up Vanilla, who held back fresh tears, despite the watery stains on her cheeks. 'Too little… TOO LATE!'_

 _None of them, not even Shadow had seen what everyone just witnessed in a split second. Even worse, to Vanilla, their motherly figure, Cream's mother. Blood sprayed the floor as everyone's eyes widened and their sense seemed to shut down, a ringing sensation sounding in their ears. Cream's screams were a blur as she tried to leap forth and hold her mother, make an attempt to stop the blood from gushing out of the fine line in her dainty neck. Silver came to first and pulled her back, burying her into his fur until she lost the energy to continue squirming._

 _It didn't take more than a sinister snicker to stretch from ear to ear on Scourge's face before Sonic's breathing turned heavy, his dark flames returning in full force. The usually royal blue hedgehog couldn't stop his eyes from darting back and forth between Scourge's smile and Fiona's bloody blade. The Moebian King would pay dearly for this. He leapt forth ready to make his kill, but before he could lay his hands on him, the green hedgehog took Fiona's hand, transformed into his Super state for only a split second and vanished into thin air._

 _The only thing that could be heard now was Cream's piercing screams as she finally broke out of Silver's arms and ran for her mother, falling at the beautifully mature rabbit's feet. She clung to her mother's dress, her legs, her hips, until her own petite dress was stained with her mother's blood. Shadow and Knuckles finally pulled her away before Sonia brought Sonic down enough to walk him away from the scene too. They needed to get to the garage and away from here. From Cream's house, from Knothole and somewhere safe._

'We don't have time to rest,' Rouge began as she started getting herself and the others to their feet, 'We have to take what we can and get the hell out of here!'

'We can't, Rouge! These people need our help!' Sally begged.

'What people?!' Manic scolded, immediately regretting yelling at her, 'They're gone, Sally. The ones that aren't are somewhere deep within the forest, scattered around.'

'We don't have a choice,' Tikal said in a husky voice as she came to in Shadow's arms, 'We need to get supplies and get out until we can figure out how to defeat them.'

'They have _never_ been this powerful.' Silver stated.

'It has to be something even more advanced than Anarcy Beryl alone.' Tails added on.

'Why are they doing this? What is it they want?' Amy asked, frustrated knowing that no one could really give her an answer… she thought.

'Power.' Cream stated in a low, mature voice that no one had heard come from her before, causing all eyes to fall directly on her. _  
_


	2. As Fast As You Can

**Hello again!**

 **Here's chapter 2! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Be sure to keep reading and reviewing! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

They didn't have much time, but enough to split up into teams and allow everyone to collect what they needed from their homes and get back to the garage, ready to run away… to return? They planned, they hoped. Sonic took Amy, Cream and Cosmo to their homes, allowing them only a few minutes each to get any and all important supplies plus maybe something of value into a bag each and get back to the garage where Tails was waiting for them.

Knuckles and Rouge went to their homes together, doing much the same, as well as Shadow and Tikal, and Silver and Blaze. Manic went with his sister and Sally, meeting everyone back again with Tails in record time. The twin-tailed kitsune had stored as many first-aid supplies as well as any weapons they might need and readied himself to leave. Once they were all back, they found themselves standing silent for a few seconds, exchanging knowing glances with one another.

This was it. The day they never thought they'd see. Being forced to flee after being unable to save next to anyone. They looked around the room, wondering how they were going to do this. Tails stroked the X-Tornado tentatively, knowing this could very well be the last time he'd ever see her. He took in a deep breath before Cosmo took his hand and led him away, knowing it was now or never.

'We'll have to take the back track into the forest and then go off road from there. We'll need to keep running until we can see the moon through the smoke again.' Silver informed the team, throwing a backpack over one shoulder.

'Agreed. We'll never all be able to sleep at once, either. When we set up camp, we'll have to take turns keeping guard.' Blaze added.

'Alright, let's get out of here.' Sonic nodded, ushering a shaky Amy along by the small of her back.

As they all walked towards the garage door, stopping briefly to look around and check the coast was clear, Sonic and Amy exchanged a brief glance. She tried to hide the fear, the grief and the pain from her eyes but Sonic saw right through it. He gave her a half-hearted smile, squeezing her hip a little and giving her a nod before the two walked forward, everyone else following behind. Amy looked over her shoulder at Cream, who had brought some clean clothes and gloves but didn't have the chance to change yet. She was looking down at her figure, her mother's blood still soaking the fabric that enclosed her.

They all made it around the back of the house, constantly checking over their shoulders and holding onto one another before they met the beginning of a back road that led to the forest. They began to walk faster, faster, faster until they began jogging, running, sprinting. The three hedgehogs pulled everyone along until they reached the tree line of the forest. Shadow and Tikal stopped at the first line of bushes, waiting for everyone else to run through until they followed behind. Shadow ran through, Tikal staying back a few seconds to look behind her and see the last little bit of destruction happen throughout the city in the distance.

'Tikal?' Shadow's husky voice whispered as he came back for her, pulling her along before they ran to catch up to the others.

They had all stopped for a second for Tails pull out a few matching gadgets and pass them around to a few members of the gang. Those members took them without question, examining them silently and anxiously, wanting to keep moving. The young kitsune zipped up his bag before switching on his own device, allowing the others to light up on their own.

'I've been working on these for a while. They still have a few glitches, but they'll help us out with leaps and bounds.' Tails shrugged.

'What do they do?' Sonia questioned as she held the one he handed her.

'Everyone needs to scan their finger prints into any of the machines so it registers that we're friend rather than foe, anything else that isn't in that machine, will register as an enemy.' Tails explained, 'Of course, you'll need to be careful. It could end up just being a bird or mouse – even a citizen that escaped the chaos in the city earlier. However, if it is one of the Anti-Mobians or even Eggman, we'll be ready.'

'And if we do run into one of them? We don't all exactly have the same combat skills as Alicia or Fiona?' Cosmo questioned, only for Tails to throw another large bag he was carrying onto the ground.

It clanked as it hit the ground, the metallic sound ringing a familiar tone in the ears of those such as Shadow and Rouge. However, Cosmo gave Tails a suspicious look, fearing the worst as she cautiously approached the bag and unzipped it slowly, revealing the one thing she feared it would be. She opened it so everyone could see, some turning away in fear, the others knowing this was for the best… hand guns, rifles, knives and weapons of all kinds that could fit in there.

'No. No, this is insane. There's no way I'm letting you put a weapon in the hands of Cosmo or Cream or-'

'You don't think I could do it?' Cream cut Knuckles off, that low, mature voice still present.

Everyone's eyes fell on her again as she walked over the bag, firm and strong, before pulling out a hand gun and loading it smoothly. She twirled it around a few times before examining it again. Even Shadow was a little edgy, watching the young rabbit handle a gun with such ease. Evil glares were shot his way, assumptions being made that he was the master behind this lesson, but no. It was as though something had been unleashed inside her, and she was ready to take action.

'Cream?' Sally walked up to the young bunny cautiously, 'How did you learn to do that?'

'I've seen Shadow fiddle with his hand guns loads of times, loading and unloading subconsciously while I was sitting next to him.' Cream shrugged as she unloaded and reloaded her weapon again, eyes falling back on the ebony hedgehog.

'That's not my fault, and you all know it!' He jumped in, firmly.

'Everyone take something.' Rouge stated firmly as she pulled out her choice weapon, a shot gun small enough to attach to her side.

'W-What?' Tikal questioned, uneasily.

'Just in case,' Amy stepped in and took out a knife for herself before her eyes caught Sonic's. 'You never know.'

Everyone looked around for a second, some uneasy and some waiting with a surprising amount of patience for the others. Sonic gave her a nod through a sigh, knowing her hammer may not be enough if push came to shove, before pulling out a weapon for himself, one he wasn't familiar with and wasn't confident using. They quickly handed out a knife or a gun so everyone had something to protect themselves with.

'Why do you even have all these, Tails?' Manic questioned as he zipped up the bag, still half full with extra weapons and gave it back to the kitsune.

'For emergencies such as these.'

'Gee, you really are the over-prepared type, man.' Silver sighed, wondering how long Tails had ever thought of the possibility of an occurrence like this.

'We need to move, we've already wasted too much time here.' Sonia spoke up, anxious to get moving.

'She's right, the city will be a ghost town by now. We should head in-'

Rouge was cut off by an explosion, one that was far closer to them than the city. It shook the ground violently, catching them all off guard, some falling to the ground as others let out screeches. As they all composed themselves, they looked around for any sign of where it came from, to see new flames peering over a distant tree line, yet one not so far away. Sporadic pieces of metal started to drop down around them, knowing something was hit and destroyed, including the bomb itself.

'Oh my, Chaos.' Amy choked as she picked up a piece of metal that fell in front of her, one with Eggman's logo.

'They're his bombs? They're so advanced, though? How did he come up with something like this?' Blaze questioned.

'Prower? Maybe Fiona. My questioned is, how did they trick him into doing this? He never would have agreed willingly?' Knuckles insisted.

'That's true. Even he never-'

Tikal's words were cut off by another bomb, one no more than a mile away and enough to make all of them fall back a few feet. In a panic, they all scurried to their feet and collected their bags before looking around to see where the bomb had hit, only to wish they had continued running so Sonic and Tails didn't have to see this… their home up in flames, soon to be nothing but a pile of rubble smoke. Sonic didn't have many personal belongings, so he was able to take them with him, but Tails was watching all his inventions, his work, the X-Tornado… be reduced to ash.

Before the first tear threatened to fall, another bomb exploded, this time even closer. They knew where they were, and they were watching. The gang was looking around, their panic stricken state freezing them in place for a few seconds, trying to look for cameras or even hover crafts with their enemies in them. Shadow, Rouge and Sonic came to a second before some of the others before beginning to push everyone forward, further and further into the depths of the forest and off the track.

'Run! Run as fast as you can!' Sonic screamed over the noise, his ears ringing and everything else becoming a blur.

.

For the hedgehog trio, to run at top speed non-stop for a lengthy period of time is regular, but even they are used to taking short breaks to take in the scenery. Which makes it that much more unimaginable to think what it was like for the rest of the gang who didn't have speed as a strong suit. It's amazing what adrenaline can do though, keep pushing and pushing until the body doesn't feel anything but the fear. An hour and a half. Ninety minutes of non-stop running at full speed. It seemed impossible, but they did it. They couldn't hear the bombs anymore, and the smoke was gone, at least from here.

Even Sonic and the others who were used to running were exhausted now that the adrenaline rush had surpassed. Everyone's legs were shaking aggressively until they caved beneath the rest of their bodies into the cold, dark grass. They were all panting heavily, trying to catch their breaths as they soaked up the soothing feeling of the grass beneath them. Manic and Sonic were lying by their sister who pulled them into her sides, holding her brothers briefly before releasing them.

Amy and Tikal were by Cosmo and Cream's sides, trying to keep them from falling unconscious. Silver and Tails were by Blaze's side, trying to wake her up, knowing she was exhausted from using all her powers trying to manipulate the fire that continually fell around them for a while. Knuckles, Shadow, Sally and Rouge were spread out around the others, coughing and spluttering as they tried to compose themselves before Shadow was able to sit himself up.

'We'll set up camp here tonight. There's no way any of us can keep going.'

'How do we know it's safe?' Cosmo questioned, turning her head in the streaked hedgehog's direction.

'Let's be real, Cosmo,' Cream scoffed in Amy's arms, startling the pink heroine slightly, 'nowhere is safe.'

'She's right, we can't second guess what's safe and what's not when we know anything could happen.' Sonic spoke up, firmly.

'Sonic…'Amy trailed off, already seeing his cocky and upbeat attitude disappear from his personality by the second.

'He's right. Let's just all try and get some sleep.' Sally sighed, before turning over and getting comfortable.


	3. I Will Have My Way

**Hello again!**

 **Chapter 3 is here! I hope you're all enjoying this so far! It's nice to be back writing for you all again! Be sure to keep reading and reviewing! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! xx**

* * *

It's somewhere around two or three in the morning, the smoke was finally starting to clear and the stars were starting to twinkle again for their last few hours of the night before the sunrise began to hide them. The city was nothing more than piles of burning embers now, small trails of thin smoke slowly making their way towards the sky. Everything was silent and dark, nothing but the slight glow of the embers and the sizzling of ash until footsteps grew louder and louder down the main street of the city.

'Not a Mobian in sight, my love. All either dead or fled to the forest, and they can't survive long out there.' Fiona smiled from behind her King.

'Hmm,' Scourge shrugged as he kicked some rubble out from beneath his foot, 'I didn't get them all, though.'

'Don't be too greedy now, babe,' Fiona began as she came up behind him and started rubbing his shoulders, 'We'll get who we came here for. After all, we've already taken out six of them? That mother rabbit was a huge success, it'll mess with more of them than just Cream.'

'I suppose you're right,' Scourge sighed, a smile spreading across his muzzle as he turned around to face her, 'Even I have to admit, we've never come this far before. When all is said and done, Fiona, I will rule this entire universe... With you, as my rightful Queen.'

He rarely used her actual name, especially with such a genuine smile plastered across his face. It almost confused the vixen for a moment, until the sap hedgehog dug out a box from his jacket pocket and knelt to one knee. Her eyes widened in shock and awe, having given up hope on a real proposal from her love. She was almost sure it wasn't real, but then again, after everything that had happened in the past few hours, it would be hard to put him in a better mood to do something such as this.

No one thought he had this kind of affection in him. No one thought it was possible for Scourge the Hedgehog to even muster up a smile that wasn't sadistic or even sarcastic. Fiona knew, though. Well, she hoped anyway. She had to admit, she had started to lose faith. This had turned it all around, though. Seeing the one man she knew she loved truly and unconditionally, turning everything he had ever said about ruling together into actions.

'Fiona Fox,' Scourge began as he opened the box to reveal the most stunning of diamond and gold rings, 'Will you be my Queen? My love? My friend? My wife?'

'Yes, Scourge,' Fiona smiled, biting back the happiest of tears, 'Forever and ever, babe.'

The green hedgehog genuinely chuckled a little as he slid the ring on Fiona's hand before getting to his feet, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her forehead before holding her in his arms. It was only brief until they heard more footsteps coming their way, breaking off their happy moment. They turned their heads to see the rest of their 'team' and one addition walking towards them in the near distance, causing them to pull away from each other to just holding hands loosely.

'We didn't find any stray citizens,' O'Nux began as they drew closer, 'they're long gone into the forests now.'

'My guess is about half of them are too injured to even survive the night, the rest won't be able to find fresh water and will be struggling in the next couple of days.' Prower added on.

'Good,' Scourge nodded, his usual demeanour slowly coming back, 'and those side peasants on Sonic's side are definitely gone?'

'There's no way the Rabbit and Coyote could have survived what we put them through, but yes, we made sure.' Alicia smiled as she shared a glance with Patch.

'We ran past the Chaotix, too. Two of them, anyway. Definitely not coming back.' Patch snickered.

'Where's the other one?' Scourge raised his voice, his grip tightening on Fiona's hand. She tried to fight it, but her heart was sinking into her stomach, wishing that she had had just a few more seconds of the Scourge she knew was possible before he went back to this. Not that she would dare let on to anyone that she was thinking that.

'The Ninja? Turned transparent before we had a chance to kill him. Coward, ran off. Like the rest of them, he won't survive-'

'No!' The now enraged King cut Patch off, 'He can survive a lot longer than an average citizen. Long enough to find Sonic and the rest of those brats!'

'Scourge.' Fiona stepped in, caressing his hand with her thumb, 'If he finds Sonic and the others, it'll make it that much easier for us to kill him with the rest of them?'

'Hmm,' Scourge considered this, knowing she was right, before his regular smile returned to his face. 'How about the bombs? Dr. Eggman?'

The grossly obese doctor was standing behind the others quietly before being pushed to the front by Rosy and her hammer, the pink hedgehog twirling it around in her hand, fighting off the temptation to use it further on him... again. Eggman, usually upbeat and lively when he was carrying out his dastardly deeds, now stood slightly shaky before Scourge, beaten and bruised beneath his dirty uniform. He took in a subtle breath, shaking off him nerves before looking at his new ally in the eye.

'Thanks to Prower, my bombs have been enhanced at full force, as you can see just from the city.' Eggman began, 'We located the Sonic team leaving Knothole and tried to hit them directly but managed to destroy most homes and land around it…including Tails and Sonic's home and workshop, Cream, Cosmo and Vanilla's home and also Amy's home.'

'Fine, alright, not bad. Next time, though? You'll hit them head on. Otherwise,' Scourge snickered, 'Rosy here will show you the price you pay. It'll be a little like the one when you didn't want to work with us originally!'

'Rosy, smash!' The insane hedgehog giggled crazily as she swung her hammer.

'It won't be a problem.' Eggman sighed, knowing from here on out… there was no choice for him.

'I don't care what I have to do, I _will_ have my way.' Scourge smirked, pulling Fiona into his side before they turned around and walked away.

* * *

As soon as the sun rose, everyone awoke. Barely two words was said between the entire gang, the events of the past day or so finally starting to set in. It didn't take long for them to gather their possessions, slinging their bags over their shoulders and start to walk. Walking, walking, walking, until their feet started to drag along the ground. No one spoke unless necessary, such as when Tails instructed everyone to turn in a different direction, or Shadow and Silver helping everyone over a shallow river bed.

Hours passed before the sun started to set, and who knows how far away they were from home now. Tails managed to tune into a few news stations that hadn't been exploded into rubble, seeing if anyone else they knew had met their end, or if any of the other's homes still stood upright. They knew about the garage, but now Amy knew about her home, and Cream and Cosmo knew about theirs. Now knowing that Vanilla was… really gone.

'It's going to be dark soon, this'll be a good place to set up for the night.' Knuckles sighed, dumping his bag by the edge of the water before sitting down next to it.

'We'll go find some wood.' Silver said as he nudged Manic's side, who nodded in agreeance.

'It's beautiful here.' Tikal said, making light of the situation and trying to fire up the first actual conversation of the day.

No one said anything, just looked around, starting to see what the peach echidna was seeing. The sky was littered with different shades of pale blues, pinks, purples, oranges and yellows. They finally stopped in an open field, surrounded by an abundance of trees, bushes, hills and a mass of what was luckily fresh water. Manic and Silver came back, dumping the firewood and starting to get something going. Some of the girls walked around, seeing if any of the bushes could be a source of food, while the boys started to set up what little sleeping equipment they had.

'Here, let me help.' Blaze insisted quietly, flashing a small smile before lighting her palms on fire.

'Thanks, Blaze.' Manic smiled in return as the pile of wood started to burn.

'The nights are going to get colder,' Tails began as he, Shadow and Sonic started setting up a few blankets, 'none of us will be able to come out the other side of those nights without getting hypothermia.'

'We should be able to find some places to hide out in along the way, maybe even some people who've gone into hiding that we can stay with temporarily.' Sonic told him, staying as positive as possible.

'We can't bring any other people into this,' Shadow snapped a little, 'We don't know who we can trust and we can't risk anything until we work out how to defeat them.'

'Speaking of working out how to defeat them,' Rouge stepped in, Cosmo, Sally and Sonia by her side, all with assorted berries and nuts in their hands that they had found from bushes around the area, 'why did it never occur to anyone to even try to use the Chaos Emeralds? Or even the Master Emerald?'

'Sure, it was a long shot when we take into account Scourge's new found powers, both what we've seen and what I'm sure we haven't, but it was worth a shot?' Sonia added.

'I hid the Master Emerald when we heard battle was on the way, it's in a safe place. You'd have to ask Sonic about the seven emeralds, he had the in the safe. Right?' Knuckles cocked a brow in the blue hedgehog's direction.

Everyone turned to face Sonic, watching him intently and more curiously the longer he didn't answer. He and the young, twin-tailed kitsune next to him exchanged a nervous and knowing glance before avoiding any eye contact that tried to wriggle it's way in. They could hear Knuckles take a few steps closer, Shadow taking a step behind him for caution. Something was wrong, and whatever it was, it was going to result in a huge fight…

'Sonic? Where are the emeralds?' Cosmo asked, breaking the silence.

'If any of them had found where we lived, they would've swept up those emeralds all too easy.' Sonic began, making an effort to start looking at everyone. 'Same with the Master Emerald, if they'd found it, we'd all be six feet under by now.'

'What did you do?' Sally asked, gently coaxing the answer out of him.

'I sent them away.'

 _Silence…_

'ARE YOU CRAZY?! You finally had all seven together and you threw them away?!' Knuckles screeched, Shadow pulling him back despite how much the ebony and crimson hedgehog wanted to join him.

'I had to! I pooled them with the Master Emerald anyway. Wherever they are, they're all together, or at least very close. If we find one, we'll find them all.' Sonic insisted.

'They could be anywhere, Blue! Even then, we don't know how they're going to help us! It's just another thing that's going to take even longer to do!' Rouge joined in.

'What choice did he have?!' Tails backed Sonic up.

'We'd all be dead by now if Scourge had found those emeralds!' Cosmo added.

'We don't know what he's done to the Anarchy Beryl in order to manipulate its powers that way. Until we work it out, we can't let him anywhere near them!' Sally reminded them.

'Then why couldn't we have taken them?!' Shadow spat, finally breaking.

'Because that would have been all the more reason for the Anti-Mobians to hunt us down even faster and more brutally!' Sonia explained.

Half of them were on one side, half of them on the other. Doing nothing but going around and around in circles. If they started to yell any louder, it's be all too easy for Scourge and the others to hear them from anywhere in Mobius and come and find them. Amy and Cream had still been absent-mindedly looking for sources of food when they came in near the beginning of the conversation, Amy insisting on leading the young rabbit away to the water side.

'Don't worry about them, Cream. They'll calm down soon enough, they're all just tired and-'

'I'm not a child, Amy. Not only that, I haven't seen anything less recently than them, if not more. I don't need you to patronize me.' Cream snapped, causing Amy to nod and fall silent.

'I'm so sorry,' Cream breathed out shakily after a few seconds silence, 'you've lost everything I have, including Mama. I shouldn't be so cruel.'

'I don't blame you. I don't think I've even wrapped my head around any of this. Who would've thought we'd ever end up here?' Amy smirked sarcastically.

'You got that right.' Cream returned.

'I know this is probably a stupid question but, how are you feeling? With all this?'

'Well… tell me about the worst time Sonic had ever hurt you.'

'W-What?' Amy looked at her strangely.

'Just do it.'

'Alright? Well, it was a while ago, and he did end up apologising of course. At the time though, he had had an awful day I think, and we were supposed to hang out, but yet again he had stood me up for a carefree run with the wind. I'd had it. I finally confronted him with as much love as I could, remaining calm and confident. He lost it almost immediately which was strange in itself. He told me I was a stupid, immature little girl that not just him but no one wanted to be around. He told me to leave him alone forever, never to talk or even see him again. That amongst other awful things.'

'Sounds brutal.' Cream interjected.

'Of course it was. When I got home, I didn't know what to make of anything. Everything was a blur, I was sure I was going to be sick but I could swear I couldn't feel anything in my body. I thought I might pass out but I was sure my brain was trying to process anything too fast to even think about passing out. Everything felt weird, numb. It felt like I was- oh…'

'Paralyzed.'


	4. Where Do We Start?

**Hello again, everyone!**

 **Here we are! Chapter 4! I'm so glad you're enjoying this so far! Be sure to continue reading and reviewing, all feedback is appreciated! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

The sun had long gone now. The stars twinkling in all their glory, the moon replacing the sun with its glowing light that beamed down on the gang's faces. The only sound that echoed through the field was the crackling of the fire that Silver prodded and poked at with a long twig. Blaze played with the fire, sculpting it with her powers, all the while being careful not to let it get out of control, while Manic and Sonia sat around and watched in silence.

Rouge had found a huge, tall oak tree nearby that she flew to the top of, getting a look over all the land they'd covered since leaving home. Had the city still been standing, she'd be able to see the tiniest bit of its glowing lights in the far distance. Alas, this was not the case. Knuckles sat beneath the tree, trying to calm himself down by falling into a deep sleep, but it was nothing more than sporadic periods of restless snoozing as he waited for Rouge to come down and probably join him.

Shadow found Cream playing with her few choice weapons, making him anxious yet again before deciding they were past the point of trying to stop her, so he decided he may as well show her a few important tricks of the trade. He only prayed that when all of this was over, she wouldn't need to pick up a gun ever again. Cosmo and Tikal were looking over the gadgets Tails had given them, making an attempt to teach themselves at least the important parts until the twin-tailed kitsune joined them to help. Sally had fallen asleep not far away from the fire, determined to block out the night and start again in the morning.

Amy had been sitting next to the brunette chipmunk, staring up at the sky, counting the stars before having to start over again after losing her place. Eventually she gave up after realising Sonic had returned from a run and taken a seat undera nearby tree. She let her eyes rest on him a second longer before turning her attention down to a snoozing Sally. She thought to herself that, if Sally was awake, she'd tell her to go over there, and she'd probably be right.

The bubble gum heroine looked back at him briefly before quietly and cautiously getting to her feet and strolling on over towards him. His eyes were rested, his hands behind his head, propping it up as he rest against the trunk of the tree. A position he had taken many times before, and Amy couldn't work out why but suddenly he looked different. She sat down next to him but he didn't move any more than over enough to make room against the trunk for her.

He didn't need to open his eyes to know it was her. Her cherry blossom and rose perfumes filled his nose the closer she got to him, and he couldn't help but hope that she managed to throw that perfume into her bag when they had left. They sat in silence for a minute or two, Sonic still in the same position while Amy watched the moon illuminate her friends figures along with the glowing light from the fire. The royal blue hedgehog took in a deep breath as he opened his eyes, her scent filling his senses again as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

'Ever think we'd end up here, Ames?' Sonic smirked as he looked out at their friends.

'Not in a million years.' She chuckled, 'Makes me think maybe it's all a dream.'

'More like a nightmare.' Sonic rolled his eyes, anger and frustration filling his voice fast.

Amy turned to face him, watching him intently as his chest rose and fell with the deep breaths he took in an attempt to calm himself. She knew that he was blaming himself for having to flee the scene, for not being able to save the citizens, for sending away the emeralds and probably so much more. Her hand reached out to touch his before she even noticed, but she retracted it quickly. She let out a frustrated sigh she didn't even know she was holding.

'You're blaming yourself, I can see it. You're so stubborn, Sonic the Hedgehog.' Amy shook her head.

'Why shouldn't I be? I let thousands of people die and I let Scourge scare me into throwing away our most prized possessions before forcing us to run away. How pathetic does the 'Hero of Mobius' look now?' Sonic said mockingly, turning his face away from her as he felt frustrated tears brim his eyes.

'Come here.' Amy insisted, not holding back this time.

Sonic looked up at her, a little embarrassed before she wrapped her tiny arm around his masculine shoulders, pulling his head into her chest. His hands rested on her thighs, one of hers holding them while the others stroked his quills gently. She knew he thought she couldn't tell, but she could feel his tears fall onto her chest, the fear, the anger, the frustration and all in between finally coming out. She loved that he would allow himself to feel it, especially with her. Maybe he finally knew he had to.

'The emeralds are not our most prized possessions, Sonic,' Amy whispered, still running her fingers through his quills before looking out at their friends, 'they are.'

'You're right, I'm sorry.' Sonic apologised, tightening his grip on her hand and thigh, 'I just don't know what to do. I'd never planned for this.'

'In your defence, when have you ever planned for anything?' Amy shrugged, causing him to look up at her before they both started laughing.

'You know what I mean,' he said as he rest his head back on her shoulder. 'Before anything else we need to find these emeralds but, where do we start?'

'Let's not worry about it tonight.' Amy sighed, 'I think everyone needs tonight to finish processing. Tomorrow morning, we can get going.'

Sonic nodded, staying silent and allowing Amy to continue running her fingers through his thick, cerulean quills. It suddenly dawned on him at how close they were, and for the first time, it didn't scare him. He didn't feel the urge to run away or jump out of his skin but quite the opposite. He needed this, maybe he needed her. She felt herself brush her lips lightly against his forehead, sending tingles up his spines and his stomach turn. It was weird, and he couldn't make it stop, but he wasn't afraid of it anymore.

He sat up a little, now his face looking over hers. Her fingers were still intertwined throughout his quills, one of his hands having moved subconsciously to her waist while the other stayed on her thigh. They both stayed silent as they scanned each other's faces closely, their close proximity allowing their hot breath to hit each other. The scent of all that nature could bring, flowers, the beach, the snow and everything in between all combined into one to make a blissful smell that made up Sonic, filling Amy's nostrils and making her shudder. Her signature, scented perfume continued to fill his, making his cheeks heat up in a way they never had before.

It suddenly hit Amy how bad the timing of this was. She trusted him, regardless, but she needed to know all of this sudden affection wasn't just because all that was happening around them. Not just that, it was the last thing they needed to focus on right now - as much as it killed her to admit to that, now that she finally had this right in her hands. Literally. She let out a small smile, wanting more than she could have before reluctantly turning his face to the side a little, gently but intentionally before placing a kiss on his cheek.

'When all of this is over, and things go back to the way they should be…' She trailed off.

'I know. I promise.' Sonic nodded, resting his forehead against hers.

'Really?'

'Really, really.'

* * *

The sun's rays had barely peaked over the horizon before a certain ebony and crimson hedgehog was waking the gang up, impressing on them all how imperative it was for them to start moving. They'd already spent a full day in the one spot which was dangerous enough, especially if Scourge had sent out some sort of search party for them. As everyone groggily got to their feet, they packed up all their belongings, the food they had gathered and made sure there was no sign of a fire before they set out.

'Why would he even bother with us now?' Cosmo questioned.

'Hasn't he made it blatantly obvious over the past year or so?' Knuckles yawned, any time before 5am being unspeakable.

'She has a point,' Manic backed the seedrian girl up, 'he knows we don't have so much as few fresh bottles of waters. What do we have now that he wants?'

'A few years ago he probably would've seen it that way,' Cream stepped in, startling everyone with the first words she'd spoken that morning, 'thinking we weren't good for anything without those emeralds. Now, though, he knows what we're capable of. Or what we were…'

'What we still are.' Silver told her firmly, almost scolding her.

'I agree we are still as capable as we've always been. It's not us that have changed, however,' Blaze spoke with that soothing, princess-like voice she possessed when she allowed it, 'it's him. His actions could go either way really – he could be thinking what he truly knows, that at the end of the day, we can take him on, regardless of the circumstances. Send out some sort of search party in an attempt to take us down before we find him.'

'Or he won't even bother,' Tikal added on, 'thinking his new found powers are enough. Assuming we'll wait it out on our own out here, waiting for death.'

'If it's the latter, clearly he doesn't know us well enough yet.' Sonic chuckled, that flash of cocky demeanour returning for just a second. Enough to brighten even Shadow's eyes a little.

Everyone remained silent for a small while as they trekked along, all sub-consciously following Tails and Cosmo who were walking at the front of the gang. Sonic's last comment left smile's on all their faces for a few minutes, enough to exchange a chuckle or two between each other before they returned to reality, staring down at their shoes as they walked. They continued walking, far enough to be a decent distance away from the field they had spent their first day and night in before stopping again to come up with… something anything.

'Well, first thing's first. We need to find the emeralds.' Sonia nodded matter-of-factly.

'I did actually think about this part when I sent them away, you know,' Sonic stated, his arms folded as he rolled his eyes, 'sending them away with the Master Emerald did more good than just hiding all emeralds.'

'He's right,' Tails stepped in, 'it's like Sonic said last night, if they're somewhere with the Master Emerald, then they're all together. We just have to work out where.'

'Rumour has it that very place can be the place you were thinking of when you sent them away, you know.' Rouge smiled.

'Of course you'd know that, Bat.' Shadow rolled his eyes, wiping the smile off the ivory bat's face.

'Oh, shove it up your-'

'Are you going to tell us where you were thinking of at the time, Sonic?' Sally cut her off quickly.

'I wasn't thinking of anywhere? All I was thinking of was getting them far away from the- oh, shit…'

'The city.' Amy reluctantly finished for him.


	5. Ready

**Hello hello!**

 **Here we are again for chapter 5! Wow, there have been so many nice reviews and messages about this story! You're all so amazing! Please continue to read, review and let others know about this story! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

'There's no way of even knowing they are really there, anyway,' Manic jumped in after a moment's silence, 'it's just a rumour, right?'

'Even then, he wasn't actually thinking of sending them there. The city was just in his mind, so does that even count?' Tikal questioned.

'Regardless of the details, we don't have a choice.' Shadow said firmly, 'We have nothing more to go on.'

'Are you mad?' Sally smirked, 'That would be walking right into their hands! Especially when we don't even know how to defeat them yet.'

'Our only shot at taking them on is with those emeralds, 'Knuckles insisted, 'and if they really are in the city, we need to get to them before Scourge does.'

'He's right,' Sonic spoke up before everyone turned to face him, the morning sun's first rays starting to gleam through his spiky blue quills, 'we have to go. This is bigger than anything we've taken on before, though, more of a risk. So if you don't want to go into the city, you won't be judged, but speak now or forever hold you peace.'

Everyone stared, stunned still by his words. Maybe it was because it was another thing that let the reality of how big the situation was hit them, but it was mostly because they almost couldn't believe he was really saying it at all. As if he was really expecting any of them to leave now, and go back to nothing in Knothole. However, being friends with Sonic the Hedgehog meant building up the patience to deal with the stubborn fool he inevitably proved himself to be.

Once the shock had passed, some sooner than others, it was only to return again in full force by the next course of action. Anger over took his magenta sister, outraged by his words before she stormed over to him and struck him across the face, causing everyone to gasp. Tikal subconsciously grasped Shadow's forearm as she startled, causing the ebony hedgehog to give her a sideways glance before returning to the scene at hand, his jaw dropped and eyes bulged along with everyone else's.

'Still got it, sis.' Sonic smirked darkly as he rubbed his cheek.

'How dare you suggest we would consider leaving?' Sonia scolded, tears stinging her eyes as she ignored his comment.

'I'm trying to look out for the safety of-'

'No, you want to be the hero. You want to make up for what you think was being a coward when we fled the city.' Sonia cut him off. 'We are not leaving you, hear me?'

'She's right, Sonic. It doesn't matter what the situation is, we're a team.' Cosmo added.

'I wasn't implying anyone was _going_ to bail, I was just saying it's an option.' Sonic began again, 'for all of us? Me, Knuckles, Silver, Blaze, Rouge and everyone else. We don't have to do this. Live out the rest of our days in an enclosed field, finding what we need. Drive Scourge insane for years after he can't find us.'

'Holy hell, you're serious?' Tails began, starting to wave a hand across the blue hedgehog's face with a sceptical look, 'You're really willing to give in, let Scourge win and pass up the opportunity for one monster of an adventure?'

Sonic stared at his brotherly figure, watching him wave his gloved hand across his face before finally dropping it. The cerulean hedgehog exchanged a few glances with some of the gang before landing on Amy. He watched her take in a deep breath, trying to fight the internal battle, knowing that she was going to support him no matter what. He loved that, he couldn't deny it – he also couldn't keep up this charade anymore, giving Amy a wink, causing her to shake her head as she rolled her eyes through the inevitable smile.

'Nah, I'm just screwing with you all!' Sonic started laughing, causing everyone to exhale in relief at the realisation Sonic hadn't completely lost his mind.

'Only you could make a joke now, Big Blue.' Rouge giggled as she rolled her eyes.

'Of course I'm going to be there first one out there to kick Scourge's ass, but the offer is still open,' Sonic turned a little serious again, 'Anyone who wants to stay here, we'll come back for you.'

'I don't see anyone backing out of this,' Silver smirked excitedly as he turned to his lavender companion, 'what do you say?'

'Let's do it.' She smiled.

'Cream?' Amy, now standing next to Sonic who was pulling her into him by her shoulders – in a friendly manner - turned to the young rabbit.

'I'm so ready.' Cream chuckled as she whipped out her weapon, both exciting and shaking up everyone there.

.

They forced themselves not to look at it as if they had just wasted two days, they couldn't do anything about it now after all. However, those like Shadow and even Knuckles couldn't help but let the thoughts course through their head of how much further ahead they'd be now if they'd known about Sonic sending away the emeralds before fleeing the city. Even if someone had brought up the subject then. Although, it's probably safer to go back now, now that everything has died down.

Or so they had thought.

It took the full day to get back to where they had come from again, but once they got to the outskirts of the city, they found a closed off area of a small field to hide out in and rest for a few hours. They all collapsed in the grass, once luscious, green and cold, now patchy and singed. They all fell onto their bags, drinking the last bits of fresh water and eating the last few nuts and berries they had tucked away in hope that since last they heard, there was at least a few homes still standing to get supplies from.

'Alright,' Silver coughed out a little exhaustion, 'what now, guys?'

'Tails, Cream,' Rouge breathed out the young Mobian's names as she got to his feet, 'think you got enough energy to fly?'

'Where to?' The kitsune questioned her with a cocked brow.

'I think we need to scope out what's happened since we've been gone,' she thought aloud, 'if we're lucky, maybe the Anti-Mobians themselves have come looking for us and the city is as dead as it can possibly be, making it even easier.'

'We would have run into them, or something, since coming back. Surely?' Cream questioned.

'Maybe. Maybe not? But, with our luck, someone or something is still lurking.' Amy sighed as she got to her feet and stood at her ivory friend's side.

'Exactly, so I say the three of us get up into the canopy of the forest and make our way just close enough to get a good view of what's going on.' Rouge began, 'As for the rest of you, some spread out to places like Tikal's and my place, gather more supplies. The others, stay here and guard our stuff, cover the three of us if we need it.'

'Sounds like a plan to me.' Knuckles smiled a little through a nod.

'I'm in, let's get going. We'll need to move fast!' Blaze added.

It didn't take long for them all to split up and get to work. Amy, Blaze, Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles stayed behind to guard their small area and cover Rouge Tails and Cream while the rest of the gang set out for supplies. Manic, Tikal and Cosmo set out headed for the peach echidna's house before moving onto a few of the other places, while Silver, Sally and Sonia set out in the other direction, headed for the brunette chipmunk's abode first.

'Well, the path's all still look pretty much intact. A little run down from all the fleeing citizens but other than that?' Manic shrugged.

'You're right, that's good news, Tikal.' Cosmo smiled.

'You're right,' she smiled before turning the corner, 'there it is!'

It was amazing how untouched it was. They had kind of expected maybe it would have been broken into by citizens trying to hide or, worse, disintegrated. They scurried inside after Tikal pulled out the spare key from a pot plant, spreading out to pack as much fresh water and food as well as many first aid supplies they could find – including all the herbal medicines Tikal swore by. After that, they moved on in a string of everyone's houses, picking up the spare keys or breaking in if they had to. They filled up to the brim of their bags before headed back to their site.

After stocking up with as much food as they could possibly handle from Silver's kitchen, the three team members moved onto Princess Sally's house, who didn't live far away. She always had an abundance of first aid supplies, knowing they would always come in handy. They were lucky nothing had been necessary yet, but there was no denying that soon enough they were going to need more than just a few bandages and some betadine to patch up their war wounds. It was a start, though.

'Almost there,' Sally puffed as they ran, 'after we finish at mine, we can head over to-'

'Sally.' Sonia cut her off sadly, having stopped a few feet into front of her.

The brunette chipmunk turned from Silver to the magenta hedgehog in front of her, her eyes now laid on the sight before them all. Stunned, sickened… paralyzed. The young princess couldn't stop herself from her heavy breaths as she fell to her knees, tears stinging her eyes. The flames and smog were fresh, the crackling of the burning wood ringing in their ears as Silver rest a hand on her shoulder. She didn't have time to collect so much as a treasured photo before leaving, confident she would be coming back for them. She was wrong. They were gone. Burnt to ash. Along with her home.

'Sal, I'm so sorry.' Silver whispered sadly.

'We don't have time.' Sally sniffed as she got to her feet and wiped her eyes,' Let's go.'

As she walked off down the dirt track, refusing to let herself turn back, Silver and Sonia exchanged a sad look as Silver stepped over and gave Sonia a small side hug by pulling her into him by the shoulders for comfort. It wasn't more than that before they walked forth, catching up to the young chipmunk and headed towards the next few houses and find some more supplies before getting back to the others.

As they walked on in silence, back in the isolated clearing Amy was absent-mindedly swinging her mallet back and forth lazily as she paced slowly. Sonic watched her from the corner of his eye, sitting by a bush next to Blaze who was manipulating small flames out of her hands. Knuckles stood still, watching the forest from where Rouge and the other two had left while Shadow paced silently behind them.

'How do you think they're doing?' Sonic asked, breaking the silence.

'Which ones?' Blaze smirked as she threw a small flame ball in the air and caught it again.

'All of them.' He smiled in return.

'I think they'll be fine,' Amy joined in, 'they've all got company.'

'It's the three in the air I'd be most concerned about.' Shadow walked past as he paced.

'Why should we be worried about them?' Knuckles asked, tense and forcefully.

'Well, they are the ones closest to the city…'

The ebony and crimson hedgehog wasn't wrong, logically speaking that would make the most sense, right? They just didn't know the extent of how worried they should probably be… It took maybe fifteen or so minutes from the three airborne members of the gang the make their way into the canopy of the forest and find the right places to spy from, and once they'd done what they could with their wings – or tails, or ears – they climbed through thick layers of branches, twigs, vines and all kinds of different flora.

'Nearly there, I can see some gaps in the trees.' Tails huffed as he pushed through, pulling vines out of his tails as he went.

'Yeah, but, can you guys hear that?' Cream turned her nose up. 'It sounds kinda like…'

The young rabbit trailed off as Rouge pulled back a branch to reveal a nice view of the heart of the city. At least, what used to be a nice view. The skies we still smoggy and red from fires and smoke of the burning buildings and wrecks, except now they were being replaced by what could only be described as skyscrapers. They were covered by little robots, littering them like little bugs as they crawled around the surfaces. Not just that, there were more robots polluting the skies and the ground, running around to create what was nothing less than an Empire. Metal clanking against metal and wood, the sound ringing in their ears.

'Well, well… Lookie what we have here.' Rouge's eyebrows arched through a long sigh.


	6. Close Enough To End It All

**OH MY GOD. THIS IS HANDS DOWN THE LONGEST I HAVE EVER TAKEN TO UPDATE.**

 **Originally, when I started writing this story, I was on a two week break from my full-time studies. I had planned to make this a short story that I could get done in two weeks but that just did not happen! I did it, though! I finally got the next chapter out! I hope it was worth waiting for, everyone! I'll certainly attempt to not let the next chapter take as long to get out! Please read and leave lots of reviews! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

'Everything is coming along according to plan, Scourge.' Alicia nodded.

'Eggman's abundance of little robots have pulled together buildings faster than anything I've ever seen, it's quite impressive.' Patch added, turning to the doctor.

'Thank you.' Eggman responded quietly, sitting in a corner of the room as he tried to look invisible.

'Very well.' Scourge sighed as he shooed them away with the flick of the wrist.

The two anti's exchanged a quick glance as they rolled their eyes and exited the room, the sap coloured king barely noticing. He slouched back in his chair – or a more accurate description, throne - propping his head up with his hand. He glanced at the doctor out of the corner of his eye, burning a hole in his forehead before rolling his eyes, smirking a little at how pathetic the Mobian had become. Fiona cocked a brow at him, sauntering over with a smile on her face.

'You seem disappointed, my love?' She shrugged as she made her way behind him, starting to rub his shoulders.

'I thought they would've at least tried to reclaim the city by now.' Scourge huffed, loosening up underneath her touch.

'I must admit, so did I. Sonic can be very stubborn, rushing into things without a plan. However, we must remember he has a team of level-headed buffoons behind him- as ironic as it may seem. Don't stress, darling,' she smiled as she leaned over to whisper in his ear, 'it won't be long now.'

He turned to look at her with a smile, one he could only present to his fiancé, leaning in to kiss her before the doors to their control room burst open. The two startled as Scourge got to his feet and Fiona stood up straighter to see the rest of the Anti-Mobians enter the room. Eggman got to his feet, noticing the almost excited looks on their faces before turning to see the Anti-Mobian King about to burst with rage at the intrusion.

'What is the meaning of-'

'We can't be sure,' Prower dared to cut him off, 'but we think they're here.'

'What?' Fiona shook her head at him.

'The shinys! All of them! Including the Master Shiny!' Rosy exclaimed.

'You mean?' Scourge stammered slowly.

'The emeralds. Maybe. We need to look into it further but… it looks good.' O'Nux smiled.

'My, my, my. This will be fun!' Scourge giggled.

.

'That's impossible.' Shadow huffed in denial.

'Really, Shadow? Now is the time you want to be… well, you?' Rouge rolled her eyes.

The three airborne members of the gang returned quickly to tell the news to the others waiting for them, desperate to start concocting a plan. They landed on the ground delicately before finally collapsing in exhaustion, having flown at full speed the whole way back. Knuckles quick to the ivory bat's side while the others picked up Tails and Cream, urging them to tell all. It wasn't a surprise they were sceptical, after all, it had only been two days. Could Scourge have really created something so almighty so fast?

'You're sure of what you saw?' Blaze questioned.

'I swear to Chaos, they were like bugs running around every surface and air space of the city.' Tails insisted.

'How are we going to get in their undetected?' Cream added on.

'Back alleys, abandoned construction sites, property that hasn't started work on yet.' Knuckles shrugged.

'It's been two days, after all,' Amy continued, 'They may be metal but they're not magic. We'll be able to get in one way or another and look around.'

'So once we get in, how do we-'

Sonic cut himself off at the sound a twig snapping beneath pressure, causing them all to turn their heads in the direction of the sound. Manic stepped out from behind a tree, Tikal and Cosmo by his side with bags hung over their shoulders. Silver followed behind with Sonia and sally, carrying sufficient supplies as well all avoiding eye contact at reuniting. They dumped their bags slowly, saying nothing, standing around awkwardly.

'What's… going on?' Blaze cocked a brow as she took a step towards them.

'They're being ridiculous.' Sally said sternly, causing the others she was with to turn to her.

'What?' Sonia narrowed her eyes at the brunette chipmunk.

'Sally,' Manic's voice softened as he walked over to her, 'you're allowed to upset. You're allowed to grieve.'

'What the hell is going on here?' Knuckles coaxed.

'By the time they got to Sally's house to get supplies, Scourge's work had already been done.' Tikal sighed.

'She mentioned on the way back that she wasn't able to get much out before we left…' Cosmo added on, mainly to Tails, now standing next to him.

'Is there anything we can do, Sal?' Silver questioned.

'You can all stop being so silly,' She smiled a little, mostly to get them off her back, 'we knew something like this could happen and I doubt it'll be the worst thing we come across.'

The brunette chipmunk ended the conversation by walking away with the supplies to take a seat and sort through them, causing everyone else to exchange uncomfortable looks in an awkward silence. They slowly filed out and began helping ration out supplies before they couldn't stall any longer. They all stood up, slinging their bags over their shoulders and getting ready to move out - knowing exactly where they were headed despite nothing having been said out loud. However, they were going to need a plan if they didn't want to die today.

'Alright. How are we going to do this?' Silver questioned loudly.

'Splitting up would be more discreet, but-'

'It's too risky. How would we find each other again without getting caught?' Cosmo cut Shadow off.

'It would be hard to keep track of everyone's safety, but we can't go all in one group. It's just too suspicious.' Tikal shrugged at the inevitable dilemma.

'Ok, how about this: we split up into two groups – that's only seven each side. Instead of covering each side of the city, we'll have to stay close, never out of eye sight.' Amy suggested.

'I like it, I think it's our best option.' Sonic nodded in her direction, the slightest of smiles across his muzzle.

'The real question is – how do we know exactly where the emeralds are going to be?' Sonia asked.

'I still have the portable locator,' Tails began, 'the only problem is, I'm worried it will pick up anything powered by Anarchy Beryl. I mean, those emeralds are insanely powerful as is, but he's done something to mess them up. He can teleport, he stay super longer – and I don't doubt he can use it for just about anything, like running a million robots.'

'If all the chaos emeralds and the Master really are together, surely that will show up more obviously rather than Anarcy power scattered around the city?' Manic questioned.

'True.' Tails shrugged.

'We don't really have another choice, we need to get moving.' Rouge sighed, securing her bag over her wings.

'Now. Let's go.' Cream added, headed in the direction of the city.

* * *

It didn't take much more than that for everyone to follow behind, headed towards the outskirts of the forest and the edge of the city. Cream poked her head through some thick bushes, giving her a much better view of the entrance of the city, everyone else followed behind, checking the coast was clear. At least – reasonably clear. Eggman's bug-like mechanical nuisances traipsed around what felt like every possible entrance, bar one that led into a dusty alley way.

'Alright, first lot, get going.' Cream whispered, summoning the first seven.

Sonic, Knuckles and Silver, along with Rouge, Tikal, Sally and Sonia prepared themselves to come out from behind the bushes and run towards the deep, dark path. A certain fuchsia hedgehog, who wouldn't be moving until the second team was ready, couldn't stop her hand from reaching up and grabbing Sonic's before he stepped out into the open. He turned back sharply to look towards the force on his arm, locking eyes with her.

'Come back safe, ok?' Amy said firmly, grasping his hand tight.

'Don't I always?' Sonic winked through a smile.

He could tell that it was going to take more than his usual, cocky charm to keep her calm this time. She gave him a serious, the fear and anxiety so overwhelming that instead of tears brimming her eyes, her body went cold and tight, shivering violently beneath his touch. The cerulean creature's smile faded into a look of what was almost sadness, but refused let her live him fear when he wasn't around her. He wasn't going to stop himself now as he brought her into his arms, holding her so tight she might have suffocated. His warm embrace soothing the trembles that took over her figure as she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

'I won't be far away the whole time, remember? In just a few minutes you're going to be able to see me?' His smile seeping into his words, making Amy smiled at she shed a tear into his fur while no one could see.

'I know, I'm just telling you so you remember not to be stubborn.' Amy began through some giggles and some sniffles, causing Sonic to smile and lean into her ear.

'Don't worry, Amy,' Sonic whispered, these very words ringing a bell, 'I _never_ will.'

The bubble-gum heroine tightened her eyes and forced a smile as the vision of Sonic holding out the most beautiful lilac rose before her flashed in her mind. She made herself chuckle a little as he pulled back to rest his forehead against hers. It suddenly occurred to the both of them just how much this tragic and life-changing experience had brought out of them – showing them what was really important, and what they wanted. The rest of his team were now on the other side of the bushes, looking around as they awaited their last member to join them while the other team were planning their move.

Sonic turned around to glance at everyone, knowing now was when he had to leave, before turning back to Amy. He caressed the edge of her cheek, slowly traipsing down to her chin and tilted it upwards. Amy knew what was about to happen, she'd waited so long for it. She knew she – she knew they – should wait until everything is over, like she had said just a few nights before. Now? Now it was getting too real, now they had to be honest with themselves and admit that things might never 'go back'.

His eyes closed half way, a loving smile crossing his muzzle as he leaned into her, kissing her lips tentatively. She kissed him back eagerly, cupping his face as she took in every second she could get of this. He wrapped his arms around her waist, wanting to pull her close and never let go, knowing she was safe there. Knowing _he_ was safe here. It seemed as though they had to break away almost as soon as they began, locking eyes again but not letting go of one another.

'I'll see you soon.' Sonic told her decisively.

She nodded rapidly as they let go and he made his way up to the others. Amy watched them run into the alley before disappearing behind the wall as her and her team secured their bags and got ready to follow them. It would've been a minute or two in full, but it felt like split seconds before she, Tails, Shadow, Manic, Cosmo, Blaze and Cream followed. The twin-tailed kitsune pulled out and electronic map of the entire city, planning out the exact roads they had to take. Sonic had the other one, able to see where Tails would be leading them.

They were all finally within sight of each other, each team on other sides of roads, hiding behind small buildings, rubble, dumpster and anything else that would conceal them. Sonic and Tails were sending signals to each other the entire way as they made their way deeper and deeper into the city. They were almost on the other side when finally and signal came up on the locator –a huge, bright light glowing to signal something not far away. Tails nodded in the other team's direction before nodding at his own, signalling them all to follow.

They roamed another five hundred metres until they were on the absolute opposite edge of the city, now able to see a dim light glowing from the other side of a hill. They were quick to spread out, still within sight of each other, until they all surround what they were sure was what they were looking for. When they were all secure, Sonic stepped out into the open, looking back at Tails for confirmation. He nodded quickly and Sonic turned back around, eyes locked on the light.

The light was now coming from a huge clump of bushes, now sure they'd found them. A huge smile spreading across his as he picked up the pace on his walk. It was close enough to touch now, so close he could swear he could smell it. A twig snapped from behind him. It was just Tails or Rouge or someone– he thought. Closer, closer, closer… so close…

'You almost beat me to it.' A freakishly familiar and venomous voice chuckled from behind him.

Sonic tensed, his body freezing in place… Paralyzed.


	7. Cuts and Scrapes

**Hello again, everyone!**

 **Yes, yes. I know. It's been far too long since my last update. Real life is really kicking my butt recently! We're slowly drawing to a close of Paralyzed now! man, I've really enjoyed writing this story! Please keep reading and reviewing! Spread the word and tell your friends to read! I love lots of feedback! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

'Really, Sonic,' Scourge began clapping his hands slowly and in sync as he took a few steps closer, 'I have to congratulate you! I really didn't think any of you would make it past half way through the city.'

Sonic straightened up, his senses coming back to him, forced to look away from the glowing light that showed the finish line to this disaster. He subtly took in a calming breath, pushing himself to find that cocky attitude he knew he had, as he mockingly dusted off his hands and turned around to face the sap coloured hedgehog – that signature smile seeping through the fear coursing through his veins. He placed his hands on his hips and took a step closer, the same way his Anti-Mobian doppelganger had.

'Do you not know me at all, Scourge?' Sonic smirked, struggling to look out of his peripheral vision for the rest of the gang.

'Oh, I know you, Hedgehog. All too well, in fact.'

Scourge smirked before looking over his shoulder, a distorted dark figure coming out from behind the bushes in the late evening light. As they drew closer, it was all too clear that there were two people approaching, causing Sonic's temporarily cocky demeanour to falter. Fiona had her left hand stuck across Amy's mouth while the other held her blade against her throat. The vixen's darling engagement ring sparkled in the dim light, catching the cerulean creature's eye and allowing him an outlet to return to his cocky demeanour.

'Wow, that's quite a rock you got there, Fiona.' Sonic whistled before turning to Scourge, 'Yikes, how much did that set you back?'

'Let's just say… it was a steal.' Scourge rolled his eyes with a snicker.

'Is that really what you want to talk about, Sonic?' Fiona cocked a brow, tightening her grip.

Sonic was able to lock eyes with Amy for just a second, maybe even a split second. So fast even the bubble-gum coloured heroine almost missed it. She prayed Sonic had some sort of plan, something that could buy them some time in order to get those emeralds before Scourge does. It suddenly dawned on him that the glowing light was still beaming in the exact same spot – no one else had claimed it yet?

'So, where is the rest of your crew? I was intrigued when I realised you even had Eggman on your side.'

'I'll admit, he's been quite the asset.' Scourge shrugged through a smile.

The bushes all around the small clearing started to rustle as the entire Sonic team walked themselves out calmly and quietly, only now they all sported a dark violet orb like ring around their entire beings. Sonic glimpsed at Eggman who was standing behind Scourge and the rest of his cohort with some sort of controller, most likely the cause of the orbs. They were physically out of control, but emotionally, Sonic had never seen any of them so petrified. His siblings, his best friends… Amy, with a blade to her throat.

'The only thing I didn't anticipate, was you and the rest of your disciples running as soon as things didn't go your way.' Scourge began circling his counterpart, 'other than that, I think I could guess pretty much everything else that's happened along the way.'

'Oh, is that so?' Sonic scoff, attempting to keep up the façade.

'Let me guess… judging from the hand gun that the bunny was holding before Eggy here held her up, after her defenceless mother kicked the bucket, she went all bad ass, right?' Scourge began as he threw a look at Cream, the young, sweet and innocent Cream flickering across her eyes as he looked at her. 'Then, despite the danger of them falling into my hands, you sent away all the emeralds in the hope they'd stay together long enough for you to find them first rather than risking taking them with you.'

'S-Sonic.' Amy whispered now that her mouth was finally free, only for Fiona's blade to draw closer to her.

'After that, it took you all too long to realise that of course the emeralds will come here to the city, because being _Hero Of Mobius,_ all you could think of was the well-being of the city –you ran anyway though, didn't you?' Scourge teased, watching Sonic strain himself to stay quiet. 'Once you idiots worked it out, you had to trek all the way back here, only to be too late.'

'You didn't find them until now?' Sonic spat, knowing it probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done.

'I'll be straight with you, Hedgehog, I didn't find them straight away either. I sure found them a lot faster than you though.' Scourge paused to take in the confused expression Sonic was desperately struggling to hide. 'Oh, come on, of course I was going to wait for you to get here! It'd be no fun if I just took them and took over straight away? Sure, there's no point delaying the inevitable, but I don't see a problem when it's this much fun!'

'You think you've got it all worked out, eh?' Knuckles growled through a tightened jaw.

'Oh, I know I do,' Scourge hissed in his direction before turning back to Sonic in a dramatic fashion, 'because to add just that little something extra to our story – it took a _tragic_ and _disastrous_ situation for him to work out how much he really loves the princess with a toy hammer. Knowing they should put their feelings aside until they win the war but they just can't resist, sharing just a kiss before the climax begins.'

The normally beautiful, royal blue quills Sonic would sport started to tinge a midnight blue, but he refused to let Scourge see how much he was getting to him. The dark green hedgehog continued to mock him, but his words became a blur as Sonic subtly looked around before his eyes landed on Eggman. The grossly obese doctor had never looked worse, in fact, he'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight. His body was almost entirely black and blue, he couldn't walk properly which probably indicated something was or had been broken.

He was ready to end this, dead or alive. He locked eyes with Sonic for a few seconds, his milky, sad eyes staring the speedster down before he glanced back and forth between the controller and Sonic. It took a few seconds, but he picked up what the doctor was saying. It had to look like an accident. He needed his team's back-up. It was a priority. It was now or never. Sonic looked back towards Scourge, waiting for him to wrap it up so they could get on with the battle.

'… so tell me now, Sonic. Got it in you for one last round?' Scourge finished as Sonic came back into the conversation.

They both smiled, ready to duke it out one on one before the real war began, right up until Scourge revealed his new upgrade. Sonic suddenly got far less excited. The cynical hedgehog went from an unflattering green colour to all different shades of violet, his pupils dilating a crimson red as his quills flared up. He rose a few inches off the ground, bearing all his sharp teeth. He didn't look any different than his usual super form, but surely he had something up his sleeve.

 _'Fuck…' Sonic thought to himself._

Sonic didn't want to waste time, he headed straight for Eggman, determined to get that controller. He sped straight towards the doctor only to be knocked back almost as soon as he'd taken the first step. He shot backwards, sliding across the dirt face first before staggering to his feet. He lift his head to see Scourge in a fit of hysterics, gripping his stomach with unbearable laughter.

'And you think I don't know you, Sonic!' Scourge howled.

Scourge lifted a few more inches off the ground, Fiona's grip almost choking Amy as the rest of the Anti-Mobians guarded Eggman. They were out of options so fast that the thought of giving up had genuinely flashed through the hero's mind. He managed to get one last look at Eggman before the doctor gave in himself for them, throwing the remote hard enough for it to shatter on the ground before anyone could catch it. As the orbs disappeared around the gang, the Anti-Mobians turned on Eggman. Patch and Alicia began their signature work, so brutal even Fiona had to turn away.

The gang spread out to begin the war, all but Cream who ran to find her gun and crawl up a tree. She made herself focus on Eggman once she was up there, unable to bare the slow and torturous death they were surely bestowing upon him. She watched just long enough to lock eyes with her life-long enemy, but today, in that moment, it was as if they were almost friends. He gave her a nod, one that was almost begging before she silently loaded her gun, aiming carefully and preparing herself for what would come of this.

* _gunshot*_

'ALICIA!' Patch screeched as the blood splattered across his uniform.

Cream honestly only intended to hit Eggman, put him out of his misery, get it done with fast. She never thought she could make two kills with just one shot, especially considering it was an accident. The young rabbit was almost sure she was going to vomit, watching Patch kick Eggman's limp body aside to hold Princess Alicia in his arms, before looking around to see where the shot had come from. Their eyes locked.

'Oh my, God.' Cream whispered in a panic before quickly reloading her gun and jumping out of the tree, speeding towards the others.

She had only just made it a few metres away from where Amy and Sonia were duking it out with Fiona before Patch crash tackled her to the ground, causing her to drop the gun as he pulled out a syringe and held it up ready to jab it into her neck. Scourge, still floating above the scene and not ready to get involved yet, turned his attention to the squirming bunny on the ground, beginning to chuckle to himself.

'HELP ME!' Cream's cry for help was the first time anyone had heard Cream's actually voice for what felt like forever.

Sonic away from his own fight with O'Nux, speeding towards the cry for help and booting Patch so hard into a tree that he would be unconscious for at least a few minutes. He pushed cream to her feet before realising how close the emeralds were. Now or never. He speed to where the glowing light was seeping through the large bush, a wave of relief rushing over him as he saw them with his own eyes. Scourge watched him rush over, the Anti-Mobian King feeling panic course through him as he flew down in an attempt to stop the chaos control…

'CHAOS CONTROL!' Sonic screamed.

No one had ever gone super with all seven emeralds AND the Master emerald before, and it felt _very_ different. So much more powerful, it was almost overwhelming. Sonic rose up to Scourge's level, the gold rays beaming off his quills, his pupils turning the same crimson red as Scourge's. The King was scared, Sonic could see it. That was it. That was the secret. There was some sort of 'Master' Anarchy Beryl that Scourge had discovered.

'Secret's out, eh?' Sonic winked, aggravating the fear that coursed through scourge's veins. 


	8. No Real Winner

**Hello, hello!**

 **Here we are everyone, the final chapter. I did it! Thank God. It's insane that I had originally started this story LAST time I had holidays with the intention of it being a short story and being finished before I went back to studies. Yet here I am only finishing it now in my next holidays! Man, time flies when you're busy! I hope you've all enjoyed this story because I've loved writing it! Sorry for all the delayed updates! Got a long final chapter for you all to hopefully make up for it! Be sure to read and review! This will definitely be my final story for a while but I'll definitely still be around reading everyone's material so keep publishing and flick me a PM! Enjoy!**

 **Ciao! x**

* * *

Everyone's instincts forced them to stop what they were doing and shield their eyes as the violently bright golden orbs burst out from Sonic's body as he continued to stare Scourge down, the two hovering above the battle scene. The rays of light began to die down a little and match Scourge's purple rays, the colours beginning to collide. As the initial shock began to subside, those who came to fast enough, pounced on their opponents and got back into the action.

Scourge couldn't help but look down at the scene, doing his best to hide his fear that he was losing all he'd fought so hard gain. Sonic continued to stare him down, a guilty smirk spreading across his muzzle as he watched the sap hedgehog's expression before it disappeared almost as soon as it played on his cheeks. The Anti-Mobians were outnumbered more than two to one, and even factoring in everyone's injuries, the Anti's primary reign was beginning to decline. Fast and hard…

Patch was still unconscious slumped up against the trunk of a tree, but not for long. Cosmo was thoroughly battered and bruised but managed to just use her powers to confuse and disorientate the Anti-Mobians. Now that Sonic had created this new found Chaos Control, Tails had hidden away with a gadget to see if he could maintain it for the cerulean hedgehog – at least study it while they had the chance.

'You're outnumbered, O'Nux,' Shadow huffed as he struck the Anti-Mobian echidna's face before throwing him to Knuckles.

'Give it up now and we can work something out!' The fiery echidna added on as he took a reluctant strike himself.

'N-Never,' O'Nux stammered weakly, causing the two holding him to exchange confused looks. 'I'll never betray Scourge.

Silver and Manic were having much the same conversation with Prower, both just as surprised with his sworn allegiance to the Anti-Mobian King. In their bloodied and bruised states, they were sure they would have to give in soon enough. It was then that Patch had come too, far too weak to fight properly but willing get to his feet and run towards Manic without a second thought until the green hedgehog caught him in a head-lock.

'Come on now, Patch. Scourge can't help you and you know we can, just give it up!' Manic said through gritted teeth as he fought to hold onto the coyote.

'Oh yeah? Well, go fu-argh!' Patch choked out as Manic tightened his grip on Patch's neck.

The boys exchanged glances, filled with slight confusion but mostly a little sadness. They couldn't fully understand why, even though they were giving them a way out, these Anti-Mobians would still swear their allegiance to Scourge after everything he's put them through. After it all though, the boys figured that the Anti-Mobian guys came to the conclusion that if they didn't die now in the arms of the humane, Scourge would kill them in the end. Slowly… painfully…

.

'You're too far outnumbered, Fiona. You don't have to do this?' Sonia attempted to calm her.

'You see this?!' Fiona screeched as she held up her finger that displayed the extravagant engagement ring, 'I may be outnumbered but I'll die before I leave Scourge to fend for himself!'

Cosmo's vines had died down as she did, her exhausted body collapsed on the ground before Tails pulled her to safety. Sonia, Amy, Cream and Blaze all surrounded Fiona and attempted to get her to surrender before they knew they had to make an effort to do the unspeakable. They all continued to exchange glances, wondering what else there was to say to the vixen that could possibly get her to leave her fiancé. However, they were out of options almost as soon as they'd begun.

Tikal, Rouge and Sally were circled around Rosy nearby as the peach echidna used her powers to weaken the rosy hedgehog, making the demons in her brain scream out for help. She dropped her sharp hammer as she gripped the sides of her head and collapsed to her knees, screaming out for it to stop. It pained to girls to intentionally inflict harm this way to another person but they knew what they had to do.

'We can help you, Rosy.' Rouge began, 'We want to help you.'

'No, Rosy, no!' Rosy screamed as she buried her face in her lap.

'You don't have to stay here with Scourge.' Sally told her, watching Tikal out of the corner of her eye to see how she was holding up, 'you can come with us.'

'No! Rosy will run!' Rosy screeched, now sprawled out in the dirt.

'What?' The three said in sync, Tikal's shock cutting off her powers.

'We want you to come with us! We will help you!' Tikal insisted.

'ROSY RUN!' The young mental patient exclaimed again before getting to her feet after grasping her hammer and taking off into the forest before anyone could follow her.

Scourge watched her running off, knowing that later on he would probably regret letting her get away but it wasn't like he had much of a choice with Sonic practically holding him there. In his eyes, she wasn't exactly his greatest asset but it did mean he was now down a member. He watched her run until she disappeared over a hill… never to be seen again.

.

Manic still had Patch in a head-lock, locking eyes with Silver for a moment as if it would make him feel any better about what he was going to do. The distinct crack of the vertebrae was a familiar ring in Manic's ears but he'd never heard it so up close, especially caused by his own two hands. He didn't even think he could do it, but with Patch's body falling limp and collapsing at Manic's feet, it suddenly got very real.

He began to pant heavily, adrenaline and guilt coursing through him. He looked back up at the boys and forced himself to avoid eye contact with Prower and O'Nux, who he could feel burning holes into his forehead with their stares. They were so bloody and bruised from the battle that it looked like their bodies might just begin to fail them anyway, but all too slowly. They shifted in the holds of Silver and Knuckles, but with no real attempt to break free, merely to gain a brief second of attention.

'Just do it…' Prower whispered.

'W-What?' Silver stammered nervously.

'Please. We'd rather you do it than Scourge.' O'Nux coughed as he pulled out of Knuckles' grasp and fell to the ground.

'I-Uh… Wh-'

'For Chaos sake, put us out of our misery.' Prower rolled his eyes, cutting Knuckles off.

'Don't be a pussy and just-'

 _*gunshot* *gunshot*_

.

Scourge's eyes stopped darting between scenes at the ringing sensation in his ears from the two gunshots. His eyes flicked to O'Nux and Prower's limp bodies lying face down at the feet of Shadow, who still held his gun out strong and firm. Sonic looked down, wondering what had been said for it to come to that but he didn't doubt the ebony hedgehog had his reasoning. The Mobian hero looked back up at Scourge to find his purple orbs starting to glow brighter and brighter as he panted heavily.

He knew the sap coloured King had no feelings of friendship or affection for anyone other than Fiona Fox, but judging from the way he was obviously about to react, it made Sonic think twice. The slinky vixen on the ground had her back turned to the girls as she watched Shadow step away from the two Anti-Mobian's he'd just killed with the flexing of his finger. She turned back around slowly, a crazed glare burning in her eyes as she looked up at Scourge and exchanged a quick glance with her love before turning back to her opponents.

'You think you've got us beat, eh?' Scourge questioned through gritted teeth, his crimson eyes twitching with fury.

'It doesn't have to be this way, Scourge.' Sonic told him calmly.

'I'll die before I give in to the likes of _you_.'

Sonic shrugged through a sigh as he powered himself up and shot towards his enemy, the collision sounding like thunder. Their strikes were so powerful that one direct hit to the head would be enough to kill, but lucky enough for Scourge, he was able to dodge a punch just enough to end up with just a broken jaw. He threw back an equally powerfully strike to Sonic stomach, winding him as he flew to the ground and hit the dirt hard. Scourge cackled evilly, flying down to stand over him.

His cocky demeanour took over as he continued to laugh, standing over Sonic with the crazed glint still in his eyes. Sonic heaved as he forced himself to not give up by tripping Scourge and his feet before leaping on top of him and continued the fist fight. Silver and Shadow rushed over to help, Scourge throwing out his arm and sending a powerful, violet ray of Anarchy Beryl in their direction that shot them up against a tree.

Fiona cackled at the sight, knowing her King was still strong. She pulled out her signature blade, determined to defeat the odds and take on the girls. She twirled the knife around in her hands before gripping in firmly as she let out a blood-curdling screech and ran towards Cream first, whose quick thinking caused her to pull out a blade from Sally's pocket, who was standing next to her, and run towards the vixen. Their blades collided time and time again before Fiona landed a nasty gash on Cream's arm before the young rabbit retaliated by landing one on her foe's stomach.

'I'll admit, I underestimated you, kid.' Fiona panted.

'You really wanna keep going?' Cream asked, equally as exhausted.

Fiona smirked as she gripped her blade tighter and ran towards the young Mobian again, Scourge seeing this out of the corner of his eye and willing him to go on. Scourge kicked Sonic off him and got them to their feet as they continued to duke it out before Sonic suddenly – and accidentally - discovered a new found power when he threw out his arms and piercing gold rays shot out of his hands and hit Scourge so hard the it threw him back far enough to take out Fiona and land them in the dirt.

'Scourge? Scourge!' Fiona screamed as she watched her King seize uncontrollably from the electric shocks coursing through his veins.

'Holy shit.' Blaze whispered as the gang started to come together, including Tails and a very weak Cosmo whose arm draped over the kitsune's shoulder.

The normally cool and gorgeous vixen now scurried around her fiancé's body, her black leather pants torn to reveal bloodied scars, her hair askew and her make up smeared, desperately seeking signs of life. She rest her head on his chest, her ear against his heart, listening for the familiar booming. As his super form rapidly deteriorated, so did his heart beat… and there was nothing she could do.

She slowly got to her feet, feeling the stares of her enemies on her back before she turned around to face them. She watched them all for a few seconds, wondering how they could have only gotten away with a few cuts and scrapes and not one damn fatality, despite the fact they had twice the numbers. Yet here she was. The last one standing, with no one and nothing. Heartbroken. Desperate… Paralyzed.

'Well done.' She whispered loud enough for them all to hear.

'We can go back to the way it used to be, Fiona.' Tails referred to the days before the vixen ran off with Scourge as he and Cosmo made their way a step closer to her.

'Oh, sweet, little Tails.' Fiona slightly mocked, 'You know as well as I do that's not true.'

'You have a chance to go back to being a good person, Fiona.' Amy told her as she held onto a weakened Sonic.

The vixen locked eyes with Amy for just a second before they flickered to Sonic. He had returned to his normal state now, having used the last of his powers to send the Master Emerald back to Angel Island, the Chaos Emeralds sitting behind Blaze. The two watched each other intensely for what felt like forever, and Sonic couldn't stop the guilt from washing over him. He'd killed Scourge. He knew Fiona would want revenge.

'Come with us.' Cosmo broke the intense silence, causing Fiona's eyes to turn to her.

'You know what?' Fiona spoke up after a few seconds, 'no.'

She shook her head, a smirk crossing her face as she threw her signature blade on the ground out in front of her. Everyone watched her, confused and suspicious, before exchanging some subtle glances with each other. Tikal was weak from the battle and could barely use her powers, but she used the last of her energy to crack into the vixen's mind and see what she was thinking. Once she realised, her eyes widened with shock and fear, not knowing what to do to stop it.

'Don't do it, Fiona.' Tikal took a few steps forward, everyone else watching the peach echidna curiously.

'No, no,' Fiona continued as she took off her beautiful ring and threw it with her blade, 'there's no point now.'

'You don't have to do this.'

'Oh, shut up!' Fiona spat as she picked up a nearby hand gun, 'You don't know shit!'

'We can help you, Fiona,' Manic walked forward to help Tikal, having picked up on what was happening, 'it'll be just like before.'

'No.' Fiona chuckled a little as she shook the gun weakly before loading it, 'I promised to marry Scourge. I will.'

Tears started to stream down young fox's face, her hand trembling as she brought the gun to the side of her head. Everyone in the gang felt their stomach's drop and their eyes widen, realising what was going on. Tikal and Manic walked forward, softly convincing her to remain calm and drop the gun. Fiona wasn't listening anymore, their words became blurred before all she seemed to hear was a ringing sensation in her ears. Her tears made her vision hazy before she squeezed her eyes shut and-

'Wh- Fiona, please, no-!' Tikal screeched, running forward.

 _*gunshot*_

Cream squealed at the sound as Fiona's body hit the ground, Silver holding onto her and forcing her to look away. Amy's hand trembled as she covered her mouth and Sonic forced her to look away by pulling her into him, as did Tails with Cosmo. Manic reached out and pulled Tikal backwards, pulling her away and turning her away. Shadow and Rouge, G.U.N agent who were used to seeing dead bodies couldn't stop the sickening twists in their stomachs, both sharing a glance as Shadow wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulder.

Sonia's entire bodied trembled, almost certain she was going to vomit from the fear and trauma of the sight. She looked down and allowed Knuckles to turn her away before she rest her forehead on his shoulder. Blaze felt all of her exhaustion hit her at once, having used her powers a lot as defence mechanisms in the battle, as she knelt down to the ground and ran her fingers through her hair. Sally came up behind her, kneeling down to wrap her arms around her shoulder and give her a sisterly squeeze.

Some looked away. Some had to look to see if it was real. All were shocked… scared… Paralyzed.

* * *

Six months had passed by, and things were slowly returning to some form of normal. Every last citizen of the city and surrounding villages had worked tirelessly to rebuild everything, and amazingly enough it was almost back to normal – thanks to some seriously advanced technology of Tails'. Amy had moved out of Rouge's home, Cosmo and Cream out of Blaze's, Sonic and Tails out of Manic's and Sally out of Sonia's and into their new homes in the last few weeks and started settling in.

When Knuckles wasn't with the gang checking in on them or just spending time with them, which wasn't very often nowadays, he refused to leave Angel Island out of fear for the emeralds. After they returned home six months ago, The Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds went onto their pillars and never moved. Tikal often went up there to check on him and offer to take over so he could rest, but he'd only taken her up on it once because she basically forced him.

Rouge and Shadow were hardly at the G.U.N office anymore, much less any field assignments. With both Eggman and the Anti-Mobians out of the picture, there was next to nothing to do other than police work throughout the city. Silver and Blaze made visits back to their own home every now and then, but after such an experience, they had become very attached to where they were now. Even Blaze was scared if they opened up some sort of portal, something devastatingly evil would come out of it.

Sonia and Manic often spent time over and Sonic and Tails new home and garage, checking in on their little brother and brother figure, but the cerulean hedgehog was almost always running. Although, recently, if he wasn't running, he was spending his time at Amy's… it took a few months for them to individually overcome their own trauma, but they did it. After all they'd been through, they still go to be with each other.

Funnily enough, it was surprising what a traumatic experience brought out in people. Tails and Cosmo had started spending a lot more time together, and now that Rouge wasn't needed in the office much anymore, she was on Angel Island more than anyone else. Other than Knuckles, of course. In fact, a lot of the members of the gang had discovered hidden feelings for each other, some a little more subtle and less exclusive than others.

'I brought a new movie for us to watch.' Sally smiled as she plugged her thumb drive into the TV, everyone else getting comfortable around Sonic and Tails' living room.

'Oh yeah? What's it about?' Knuckles asked.

'Is this the one you were telling us about yesterday?' Tikal asked before Sally nodded and took a seat with Manic.

'It's about this guy who becomes completely paralyzed and has to be constantly looked after by this town girl and, low and behold, they fall in love. It's supposed to be really good!' Cosmo smiled, a permanent scar from the battle visible on her neck that Tails discreetly pecked.

'Oh, Chaos, it's not going to be one of the ones that leaves all you girls reaching for the tissues is it?' Silver rolled his eyes, before Blaze cocked a brow and smirked at him.

''Us girls?'' Cream giggled, 'If I recall correctly, you were sobbing hysterically when we all watched The Fault In Our Stars.'

'Whatever.' The grey hedgehog rolled his eyes before stuffing his face with the popcorn Sonia had brought over.

As the movie started, Shadow smirked as he picked up a box of tissues and threw them at the grey hedgehog, causing Rouge to stifle her laughter in Knuckles' shoulder. Everyone held back their snickers as they focused on the beginning of the movie, getting comfortable on the lounges and bean bags that surrounded the living room coffee table.

A few hours later, after almost everyone had fallen asleep, Amy and Sonic had made their way out onto the balcony with cups of hot chocolate. They took a seat and curled up with a big blanket they dragged out with them as they watched the moon glow in the night sky. The stars twinkled around it, their bright light shimmering and reflecting off Amy's glistening eyes – and Sonic couldn't help but look.

'Can you believe how much can change in just over six months?' Amy chuckled a little.

'If you'd told me seven months ago, I wouldn't believe you.' Sonic laughed before taking a sip of his drink, letting a few seconds of silence fall over them.

'I still have nightmares, you know.' Amy broke the silence, causing Sonic to look at her, 'Of Fiona. Scourge. Eggman. What we did to them. What they did to us.'

'I get them too.' Sonic admitted in a whisper, shuffling closer to her so her could wrap an arm around her and pull her petite frame in close.

'It scares me that nothing will ever be the same again, no matter how hard we try.'

'Maybe that isn't all bad.'

Amy turned to Sonic, his warm smile melting away all her fears and anxiety. He took away her cup and placed both of them on the table that sat in front of them before pulling her in even closer, wrapping the blanket around the both of them. They nuzzled into each other's fur, taking in their scents, before Amy opened her eyes to see Sonic's scar right up close. As it turns out, all that Chaos energy left a permanent mark on the hedgehog, and it was clearly a reason why no one had used all eight emeralds together before.

The two used the deep scar that trailed all the way down his chest as a reminder that things could have been worse. Something so life threatening really could've taken him away, but it didn't. They kept their word – after everything had ended, they would be together, no matter what. The fuchsia hedgehog looked up into his eyes and smiled as he smiled back, letting everything else fall away.

'I love you.' Sonic whispered before pecking her nose.

'I love you, too.'

They chuckled a little before their lips grazed one another gently, Amy's fingers lacing through Sonic's quills as he wrapped his arms around her frame, pulling her into his lap. They felt a smile form within the kiss, happiness and love radiating from their beings. The night's chilly breeze brushed along their fur, causing them both to tremble a little before they laughed and pulled the blanket around them tighter. They pulled away slightly so they could smile at one another before Sonic pulled her in for a deeper kiss.

And there they were, in the moment. Stuck, frozen… Paralyzed.


End file.
